Dicranozygoma leptoscelus, gen. et sp. nov. / H.G. Seeley.

  • Seeley, H. G. (Harry Govier), 1839-1909.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dicranozygoma leptoscelus, gen. et sp. nov. / H.G. Seeley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    On the Skeletox of a Theriodoxt Reptile from the Bayiaans River (Cape Colony) : Dicranoztgoma leptoscelus, gen. et sp. nov. By Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., F.L.S., V.P.G.S. [Plate XXXVL] The fossil reptilia of South Africa collected or sent to England by the elder and younger Bain became known from isolated fragments, from a mistaken idea (fostered by the published figures) that the skull or the dentition gave information which was of chief scientific interest; but, partly owing to the rapidity with which specimens at the surface become broken and washed away when exposed to the sun and rain, skeletons in a complete state cannot often be obtained; and partly from diflSculties of transport in the Karroo Desert, in which they have mostly occurred, associated bones are rarely collected. In Cape Colony I saw only one specimen showing hones of the skeleton of an Anomodont reptile in natural association. This evidence 1 now bring before the Geological Society. It had been for some time in the Albany Museum at Grahamstown. The slab containing it is 31 inches long by 10 inches wide. The rock is an extremely hard siliceous sandstone, divided by natural rectangular joints into its present size and form, split so as to expose a portion of the skull, the vertebral column and ribs as far as the pelvis, scapula, part of the humerus, femur, and parts of the tibia and fibula. The skeleton curves over the slab ; and has been so divided by the parallel longitudinal joints that the tail and left hind-limb, and apparently part of the right fore-limb, were lost. The bones have decomposed, and are represented bj' natural moulds. The specimen, slightly distorted by earth-movement and by maceration, was lent to me by the Trustees of the Albany Museum. I brought it to this country, and a beautiful cast, obtained by means of a jelly-mould, was taken from it in the Geological Department of the Natural History Museum, for the Trustees, before the specimen was returned to Grahamstown. Dr. Schdnland, M.A., F.L.S., Director of the Albany Museum, has ascertained for me that the fossil was discovered by Mr. W. Pringle, at about 3400 feet above the sea, upon his property at Ealdon, resting in the bed of the Baviaans River, a tributary of the Great Fish River, flowing south-westward between Tarkastad and Thorn Cross Station. The counterpart has never been known, and was probably swept away by the river before the slab was exposed. Dr. Schdnland, however, states that ‘ there was an additional piece belonging to the animal—I take it to have been the remaining part of the head—which mysteriously disappeared many years ago.’ I have not been successful in my efforts t,o discover this missing fragment, which is believed to be in a private collection in Paris.